November 15, 2011

What Is Art About?

The Creation of Adam is a fresco painted by Mi...
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I've done quite a few essays in Chinese recently and one of them is about the value of art works (ha, I do take break from criticizing Chinese culture sometime). It is a long writing so I have no energy to translate all of them in English. However I am quite happy about the ending of this writing,which I shifted a little from "art works" to "art":

I don't think the essence of art is about "works", either "quantity" or "quality", rather, I believe it is about experiencing life - the wonder of life and the beauty of life. This is because that art, as a spiritual creativity, is nothing more than a "re-creation" of our original life. Furthermore, this original life - every one of ours, is an ultimate masterpiece of artwork that no one can surpass. So, as long as one can enjoy every bit of living process, feel touched by every sunrise and sunset, feel marveled by every seasonal change every year, he/she is a true art master just like Michelangelo. Only if we have such recognition, could we fully understand what "everyone is artist" means, what "equality" means, and what Lao Zhi said over two thousand years ago means: "do nothing and everything is done".
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4 comments:

  1. I completely agree, YunYi! I hope more people would feel this way about the beauty of art and the value of all life. We are so used to putting a sticker price on everything, and it causes much unnecessary suffering.

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  2. I agree, Yunyi. I think all art is an attempt to express through some medium the wonder and mystery and beauty of life. But, as I said on the forum, the great art, the ultimate art, is that of living; and every existing thing, from a rock to a human being, is a work of art.

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  3. thanks np! i am glad (always) that we share the same perspective on this.

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